Food and beverage products contain many functional components, including flavorings such as spices, natural and artificial flavors, and gases such as carbon dioxide, which impart certain qualities and properties to the food or beverage.
Flavor is an important characteristic of beverage and food systems. In beverage and food formulations, various ingredients other than flavorings are added to impart other desirable properties, such as viscosity and stability. These additional ingredients often affect flavoring performance by reducing their intensity, or by inducing formation of off flavors.
Flavors can be complex and the number of available flavors is extensive. Flavor is that property of a substance that causes a sensation of taste. Four basic tastes are perceived by taste buds on the tongue: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. The flavors used are natural, artificial, or combinations and exist in liquid or dry form.
Flavors are classified into the major groups of spices, natural flavors, and artificial flavors. A spice is an aromatic vegetable substance in a whole, broken or ground form which is used as a seasoning. Natural flavors are flavor constituents derived from plant or animal sources. Artificial flavors are flavorings containing all or some portion of non natural materials.
Materials that can be used for flavorings can be grouped as follows: spices and herbs; essential oils and their extracts; fruits and fruit juices: and aliphatic, aromatic, and terpene compounds.
Spices and herbs consist of dried plant products that exhibit flavor and aroma. They are derived from true aromatic vegetable substances from which the volatile and flavoring principles have not been removed.
Essential oils and their extracts are odorous oils obtained from plant material and have the major odor that is characteristic of that material. Most have poor water solubility and most contain terpenes (hydrocarbons of formula C.sub.10 H.sub.16 and their oxygenated derivatives C.sub.10 H.sub.16 O or C.sub.10 H.sub.18 O) which contribute to the poor water solubility as well as possibly contributing to the off flavor. Examples are essential oils of bitter almond, anise, and clove. Terpeneless oils are extensions of concentrated essential oils in which the unwanted terpenes are removed. These oils are usually more concentrated and of increased stability and water solubility. Common oils in the terpeneless form are citrus oil, spearmint, and peppermint.
Fruit and fruit juices are natural flavorings obtained from fruits. Whole, crushed, or pureed fruit may be used, but, more commonly, the juice or concentrate is used. Fruit extracts are made by extraction with a water-alcohol mixture.
Aliphatic, aromatic, and terpene compounds refer to synthetic chemicals and isolates from natural materials. This classification encompasses the largest group of flavoring materials.
Flavorings are typically introduced directly into the beverage or food product during product production. Heat stable flavorings can be added at various points during product production, while heat sensitive flavorings are usually added following high temperature processing steps. Carbon dioxide is typically injected into beverage products immediately prior to sealing the beverage container.
The present invention is a gellan gum beverage or food component bead which provides a means for introducing beverage and food components, including flavorings, carbon dioxide and yeast, into beverages and food systems. The beverage or food components are encapsulated in storage stable gellan gum beads.